Oh, and welcome to the forum. Why not join in our weekend games on 888 and Pokerstars!

Opp reg, 22/16, fold to 3bet 67, WTSD 34, WWSF 48, Agg Freq 31/33/38/, fold to Cbet in average pots 30/25/0. There’re very good chances for call on river.

Replay the hand on http://macropoker.com/replay/log/378
Kapelle 25 (UTG) ($38.72, (154.9bb))
competitor76 (MP1) ($25.70, (102.8bb))
cipig (CO) ($23.80, (95.2bb))
Hero (BU) ($25, (100bb))
carp50 (SB) ($58.22, (232.9bb))
Crixus101 (BB) ($25, (100bb))

Pre-Flop: ($0.35, 6 players)   Hero is BU

2 folds, cipig raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.25, 2 folds, cipig calls $1.50,

Flop: ($4.85, 2 players)

 cipig checks,Hero bets $2.75, cipig calls $2.75,

Turn: ($10.35, 2 players)

 cipig checks,Hero checks,

River: ($10.35, 2 players)

 cipig bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50,

Final Pot: $15.35
cipig  shows a pair of Fours)


Hero shows two pair, Fives and Fours)

It’s very rare that the winner of a poker tournament grabs a big stack early and rides it all the way to the final table and victory. Much more common is that on the way to any significant win your chip stack will fluctuate wildly, you’ll suffer bad beats, and have to overcome all manner of tough spots and adversity to claim glory.

Until you’ve experienced these ups and downs over and over again it can be difficult to know how to react when the heat is on. Even top pros sometimes struggle to cope with tilt or make strategical errors like playing too aggressively with a big stack. It’s important that you are able to recognise these dangerous situations before they destroy your tournament dreams and send you home broke. PokerPlayer has employed its own Spidey Sense super powers to keep you on top of the danger zone...

Danger One - Playing too tight with a short stack

When you’re card dead, short-stacked and raises are flying in all around you it’s easy to fold for hours at a time. You think to yourself, it’s fine, I’ll find a spot to ship my fifteen big blinds in, I just have to wait. Suddenly that stack is now only 8 big blinds deep and now, because you fear you don’t have any fold equity, you fold even more. This vicious cycle of decline happens to inexperienced poker players all the time.

The problem is that if you take too long in getting your short stack into the middle you are severely damaging your chances of first regaining a playable stack and then going on to do well in the remainder of the tournament. As soon as you get to fifteen big blinds or lower your head needs to always be on the look-out for decent spots to ship your stack in. From early position you still need to be relatively tight (you can loosen up the shorter you get), but if it’s folded to you on the button with 12 big blinds and J-6 off suit then ship it in! As long as you always retain above ten big blinds you will have a degree of fold equity, something which is much more important than knowing you are going to be called and having to rely on your hand winning.

One of the best ways to pick up chips as a shortie is by shoving and stealing the blinds and antes. Depending on the stage of the tournament four or five successful un-called shoves can be almost as valuable as doubling up. If you’re worried about being called then don’t be. Let’s face it, nobody is going to move from short stack to tournament chip leader without being in a lot of all-in showdowns. It would be great if you have the best hand when eventually called but it’s not essential. Being all-in with 7-6 suited versus A-K for a 32 big blind pot is a far more significant spot than reversing the hands (to give you the edge), and playing for 17 big blinds because you've allowed yourself to blind down.

Treat the short-stack as a position where you have nothing to lose. You shouldn't play recklessly and give up all hope but instead up the aggression to the max while still using logic to work out which shoves are going to be +EV for you. Whatever you do, don’t limp out of a tournament in a feeble manner! Be brave.

Danger Two - Playing too aggressively with a big stack

If there’s one major leak in my tournament game this is it. Time and time again I will get a big stack in a tournament and then completely implode within the next few levels by playing too many hands, three-betting too much and generally going overboard with aggression. The problem is that big stacks should typically play more hands than usual and should be aggressive – but it’s all about finding the right balance.

There must be a reason behind everything you do, especially when your decisions are likely to create a big pot. It is not a good enough reason to continually three-bet light just because you are the big stack and feel it's your duty or your right. You must have a better reason. Maybe a player is unlikely to ever four-bet without a monster so you’ll avoid being put in tricky spots or alternatively a player is likely to call your three-bet but has a long history of just check-folding on most flops.

Having a big stack is great because it allows you to have freedom in your preflop decisions. When a short stack ships it in with 12 big blinds and you have K-Q in the big blind you can now happily call off whereas the decision would be much tougher if the shove was for a higher percentage of your stack.

The ideal way to handle a big stack is to play lots of pots without ever putting yourself in a lot of danger (unless you have a monster hand). This is easier than it sounds. You need to be frequently raising to small amounts preflop in an attempt to either continually steal the blinds or get heads-up. From here you’ll be able to win chips by continuation betting half-pot on the flop or double barrelling on scare cards, such as an Ace or King.

This small ball approach is much better than taking super high variance lines such as three and four-bet bluffing preflop or triple barrelling on every single board. Of course an approach like this is going to be exploitable against top players, but if there are one or two players of this ilk on your table just avoid them. Play pots with the punters and idiots instead. A big stack is not a licence to go crazy. It’s a perfect opportunity to use calculated aggression to rack up chips while exposing yourself to minimal risk.

Danger Three - Tilt!

Tilt can hit you when you least expect it, and can have any number of triggers. It could come on because of a bad beat, it could be that there’s an annoying pipsqueak at the table or it could be something as trivial as someone spilling a Coke on your lap by accident. No matter the reason, tilt can be deadly to a tournament poker player. Tilt causes you to lose your ability to make rational decisions and it’s vital to keep a level head. So how do we do it?

There’s often a simple and logical answer to these problems. Let’s say you get Aces all-in preflop against Kings for a huge pot. It’s all looking good until the river when a cruel King hits to give your opponent the pot. It’s very easy to go on tilt in this circumstance as you look at all those chips slide across the table when they should be yours. Instead, take your time, take a few deep breaths and count your stack accurately so you know how many big blinds you are left with. It’s important to forget what just happened and solely focus on what you can do to influence your future in the tournament.

The same attitude is important when faced with any situation that can tilt you at the poker table. You’re getting annoyed by table chat? Just put your headphones on and shut them out. Angry with the dealer because he made a mistake that cost you? Remember that a dealer wouldn’t do this on purpose and accidents happen. There’s always a rational way to react to situations that doesn’t involve tilting.

And if none of this advice works then imagine your friends asking you how you did in the latest poker tournament. When you re-tell the story you want to be able to say you played well and just got unlucky, and not that you threw a tantrum and committed tournament suicide over a minor incident.

Danger Four - Big Bad Bullies

Tournament poker can be very frustrating if there’s a loose-aggressive player on your table who is bullying everyone. It’s annoying if you want to pinch a few blinds but you can’t because he’s beat you to it. Or if you want to isolate the limping fish but the bully has already raised it up to five big blinds and you only have J-9. On the surface it can appear  impossible to take a table bully down if you aren’t getting dealt good cards. That’s not quite the case though.

There’s a breaking point for all bullies. You should test where the aggressor’s breaking point is by throwing in the odd light three-bet if you feel he is getting out of line too much. Even if he plays back at you and you are forced to fold it’s not a terrible outcome. In the future you are now much more likely to get maximum value – by the aggro player four-bet jamming light for example – when you eventually do have a hand near the top of your range when you three-bet.

The same advice applies postflop. You can quickly assess how far the looseaggressive player is willing to go if you float and bluff-raise flops you think will have missed him. As a general guide dry flops such as K-6-3 are really good to do this on while you should avoid boards like A-Q-T which have probably hit most opening ranges in some form.

The onus doesn’t have to be on you to play back at him either. Many hyperaggressive players will have a major leak in that they don’t adjust to different players well. If you feel that a player is continually in fifth gear and not paying attention to which of the other players at the table are tight or loose then there’s no need for you to set up an image. Just wait for a strong hand and trap him with small three-bets and raises postflop.

Tournament poker history is littered with over-aggressive players who blow major chip leads at some point. Keep being aware of all situations and you can put yourself in a great spot to take advantage of these blow-ups. If you look at the situation in this way it can be beneficial that a player is bossing you around – and not dangerous in the slightest.

Danger Five - Freezing up

Unless you happen to play the National Lottery religiously, opportunities to earn life-changing sums of money don’t come around very often. If you play poker tournaments with sizeable buy-ins though, they now come around all the time. In today’s competitive tournament market even tours with relatively low buy-ins (such as the Genting £430 tour) can reward you with pay-offs far greater than a year’s salary. It’s only natural then that many inexperienced players begin to freeze up either when they hit the bubble or on the final table when pay jumps can be huge.

This is nothing to be ashamed of, but it will help your game if you can put the money out of your head while playing and focus solely on making the best decisions. My advice is not to look at the list of pay outs if you make a final table and just go for the win. Don’t do this at the expense of making chip EV errors (such as playing a huge pot with a marginal hand when another player at the table only has one big blind and is likely to bust), but just be aware that the majority of the prize pool is always reserved for the top three spots.
 
There are certain situations where tightening up in an attempt to move up the pay ladder could be perceived as the correct play, but they’re rare. A classic example is if you are in the final dozen players at the WSOP Main Event where the major sponsorship opportunities that arise from making the final table make it a more valuable goal in itself than honing in on every potentially profitable spot. This sort of situation doesn't happen often though, and unless the next money jump is going to change your life you shouldn't let it affect you. Don’t even look at the money in fact. Just focus on what is in front of you: chips and cards.

Source: PokerPlayer.co.uk

Hi chewwy,
results for Beehive wk11,  May20th;
1......Pete Johnson
2......Dean Wilcox
3......Les Waterhouse
4......Kev Waterhouse
5......Ken Lally
6......Dave Lally
7......Becs Boulton
8......Phil Blackburn

Thats your lot,have a good week.Remember,no Monday Beehive next week due to Bank Holiday.
Game is on Tuesday instead.

Hi everyone,
Just started playing again onmline. Had a royal flush yesterday but not on my account, had one today though 

Where's yours Stu?

Great to hear from you mate!

...I'm still waiting